Friday 3 February 2012

The Fishing Port of Teignmouth

Is our new home. Not far from Torbay, approximately 12 miles ,up the coast we know it quite well. Mike lived here from the age of 12 until we got married in 1965 and of course I visited often.

When we were young our local pub was The Ship which is on the River beach. Many a good night spent in there singing along to Lily the Pink by the Scaffold and Manfred Mann’s The Mighty Quinn. We were married then and lived in a modern terraced house in Chelston Torquay. We rarely stayed overnight so I guess we drove home drunk or sober. How scary is that but it was the norm.

Many of Mike’s friends were fishermen, men who worked hard and played hard. A great bunch of guys in the main.

I was reminded of them last weekend when one of the fishing boats, The Girl Rhona, ran aground on a sandbank by the mouth of the river.Five fishermen on board were rescued unharmed, in a dangerous operation which saw the lifeboat which went to their aid, also damaged. This boat is now manned by sons of the men we knew and everyone in the town is so delighted that they were all rescued. The outcome could have been so different.

The boat is still sitting on the sand bank being pounded every second by the relentless waves. We drove down to the seafront yesterday to look and I took this photo on a very long lens.

fishing boat

Reminded me also of this wonderful hymn -

 

Eternal Father strong to save
Whose arm has bound the restless wave
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
It's own appointed limits keep
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in Peril on the sea

The original hymn was written by William Whiting of Winchester, England, in 1860.

2 comments:

  1. I am so thankful that everyone is safe. Very dramatic photo of the fishing boat. Do you mean The Ship in Teignmouth or the one between Paignton and Torquay? If it's the last one I remember that pub well, used to go there many a time with family and friends.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank goodness there were no fatalities - the loss of the boat is sad though. Any chance it can be saved and rebuilt?

    I know The Ship on the River Beach - in fact Bob and I met John there for supper one evening a few years back - he flew over from France and we stayed at the Bay Hotel for a couple of nights to visit with Sue and Johan. You should get in touch with them - Johan and Mike being lovers of sea and ships would have much to chat about! Hopefully we can ALL get together next December - you'd better not sail away!!!!!!!

    Love and miss you - but glad you are happy with your lovely new home dear.
    Hugs - Mary

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment - it's just nice to know that you dropped in. If you don't have a Google account use anonymous but leave your name if I know you please.

JJ